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VIDALIA, La. — Officials of Syrah Resources came to clear the air and dispel rumors that the industry was experiencing layoffs because of changes in the electric vehicle market during Tuesday’s meeting of the Vidalia Board of Aldermen.

Todd Stevens, who is the general manager for Syrah’s Vidalia facility, said there had been no layoffs but Phase III of expansion had been delayed.

This is because a federal plan to mandate vehicle manufacturers to increase electric vehicles by 2025 has been pushed to 2027. This means the market demand for Syrah’s product, active anode material used in the manufacture of EV batteries, will not have increased to the level that Syrah previously projected by 2025, Stevens explained.

“Things are trickling along, not going at the pace we’d hoped for. We built the plant as fast as we could to be first in line starting Jan. 1, 2025, and they’ve moved the goal line on us.”

Stevens said the offtake agreement they announced with Tesla for 80 percent of the plant’s capacity still stands and they are currently working to fill those orders and meet Tesla’s qualification process.

“The approach that we took once we started making material in March this past year was to be at 80 percent capacity by the end of the year. We pivoted after the second quarter for the change that congress made,” Stevens said. “The feedback we gave our shareholders was that we are not just going to build inventory for the sake of building inventory. We need to have orders on the books.

“We’ve got about 400 tons of material sitting in the warehouse currently ready to go and we’ve got close to 9,500 tons of raw material sitting in the warehouse in Ferriday. We’re well positioned to ramp up and are currently processing an order for Tesla now that is going to go out to their Fremont, California plant. We also have a purchase order for their Berlin, Germany plant as well as their Austin, Texas plant.”